| « A Sharp Eye | Jared Logan Unlimited » |
Performance Tue Apr 08 2008
Creating a Cell Phone Story
Roman Mars, producer of Re:sound on Chicago Public Radio, was asked to write pieces involving messages left on a cell phone for the Third Coast International Audio Festival's Listening Room.
Mars says: "...Debt collectors immediately sprang to mind because they are the only messages I consistently receive. Most of my friends just hang up or text when they get forwarded to voice mail. These days the collectors are always automated, and even though the text being spoken is identical every time, they feel more and more menacing with each call. Guilt alters perception. That's how the story started, and then it evolved from there. Since the messages from collectors are relentless and abusive, it seemed only natural to develop that into an archetypal abusive relationship, with intense rage followed closely by abject contrition. Throw in a creepy, phone-based score, and a sci-fi melodrama is born! My wife did the voice of the computer. She read each word in the script backwards with varied inflection to get the right (or rather, slightly wrong) tone. I then cut the words out individually and constructed the sentences."
Check out the final product at Steppenwolf Garage on Wednesday, April 9th, in conjunction with scenes from Dead Man's Cell Phone, a new play by MacArthur “genius” Sarah Ruhl. Details in Slowdown.
